19 Facts About Zhao Liping

Zhao Liping was a Chinese police chief and politician who spent most of his career in Inner Mongolia.

Zhao Liping served successively as the head of the region's Public Security Department, Vice-Chairman of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Vice-Chairman of the regional political advisory body.

Zhao Liping was arrested by police in the eastern Inner Mongolian city of Chifeng in March 2015 on charges of intentional homicide.

Zhao Liping was the first known provincial-level official to be convicted of murder in the history of the People's Republic of China.

Zhao Liping went down to the countryside in Jilin province, before taking on a job as a worker at a printing factory.

Zhao Liping studied at Chinese People's Public Security University, Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party, and People's Liberation Army National Defence University as a part-time student.

Zhao Liping worked for the police force and over 40 years worked his way up to head the Public Security Department of Inner Mongolia, essentially the region's police chief.

Zhao Liping had a moderately successful career as a writer, authoring lengthy novels, poems, and award-winning screenplays.

Zhao Liping penned works in a wide range of topics, from murder mysteries to his recollections of trips to Hong Kong and Russia.

Zhao Liping's profile was featured on the China Writers Association; he has been a member of the association since 2007.

On March 20,2015, at approximately 9:30 pm in the city of Chifeng, Zhao Liping was driving a black Audi sedan with Ordos license plates pursuing a white vehicle with a woman inside.

The woman had called the emergency police number 110 that day, saying "Zhao Liping is out to kill me," before hanging up abruptly.

Zhao Liping was said to have caught up with the woman inside the Baihe Xincheng residential neighbourhood of Chifeng and shot the woman in the head, killing her, then put her corpse in the trunk of his car.

Zhao Liping did not resist arrest and reportedly still carried blood stains at the time of his arrest.

Zhao Liping was the 100th high-ranking "tiger" being investigated or charged with a crime since the anti-corruption campaign in China began in 2012, though initially he was not being investigated for corruption, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection took up his case as a separate investigation from the murder charge.

On July 31,2015, upon the completion of the investigation by the CCDI, Zhao Liping was expelled from the Communist Party.

The investigation concluded that Zhao Liping used the conveniences of his office to aid in the promotion and business activities of associates, and "illegally possessed bullets and guns", "severely violated socialist morality by engaging in adultery", and took bribes.

On November 11,2016, Zhao Liping was convicted on charges of intentional homicide, taking bribes, abuse of power, and illegal possession of firearms, and sentenced by the Taiyuan Intermediate People's Court to death.

Zhao Liping was the first official of sub-provincial level or above to be sentenced to death since Xi Jinping took power in 2012.